Hanger bar for shipping garments and the like

ABSTRACT

Hanger bar for shipping garments, made from a single piece of light gauge sheet metal having a main inverted channel forming a support for a plurality of garment hangers and having end hangers formed integrally with said main channel adapted to hook on the top edges of opposite side walls of a shipping container for the garments. The bar is reinforced by gussets at the end shoulders and ribs embossed in the top surface of the bar to give the bar the strength to carry relatively heavy loads and to enable it to be made from a single piece of light gauge sheet metal.

United States Patent 1 1 Brennan Nov. 20, 1973 HANGER BAR FOR SHIPPING GARMENTS AND THE LIKE [76] Inventor: Francis P. Brennan, 1057 Rolling rr-tLislc I,ll,- ,Oi3 2,,, 1

22 Filed: Mar. 3, 1972 21 App]. No.: 231,499

3,458,051 7/1969 Zeman et al 211/124 Primary Examiner-Ramon S. Britts Att0rneyCarlton Hill et al.

[5 7 ABSTRACT Hanger bar for shipping garments, made from a single piece of light gauge sheet metal having a main inverted channel forming a support for a plurality of garment hangers and having end hangers formed integrally with said main channel adapted to hook on the top edges of opposite side walls of a shipping container for the garments. The bar is reinforced by gusl References cued sets at the end shoulders and ribs embossed in the top UNITED STATES PATENTS surface of the bar to give the bar the strength to carry 2,357,309 9 1944 Brown et al 211 124 x relatively heavy loads and to enable it to be made 2,809,002 10 1957 Rudolph 211/123 x from a Single piece of light g g Sheet metal- 2,863,352 12/1958 Mikesic.... 85/11 2,870,917 1 1959 Johnson 211/1051 4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 2,907,452 10 1959 Linder et al. 206/7 A 23 j I 2/ Q M /9 m/ 1 1 1 1 1 h V 20 ll HANGER BAR FOR SHIPPING GARMENTS AND THE LIKE FIELD OF THE INVENTION Hanger bars for garments and the like made from sheet metal and of the type found in class 21l.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Heretofore, hanger bars for suspending garments within a carton or container for shipping purposes have been made of a one-piece or three-piece construction. Such hanger bars are shown and described in such Patents as the U.S. Pat. Nos. to Brennan 3,197,033 and 3,270,865 and in the US. Pat. No. to Browning 3,403,787.

While such hanger bars with side ribs and end gussets have been in common use as in Brennan US. Pat. Nos. 3,197,033 and 3,519,139, the ribs and gussets have never before been combined in a one-piece unit made from light gauge metal to give the required strength and to overcome the existing weaknesses of such bars and to withstand the rigors of shipping when fully loaded from end to end. They have of necessity been made from heavier gauge steel with a resultant high cost and an unduly heavy weight.

The hanger bar of the present invention is a definite improvement in the prior art hanger bars of the type previously mentioned, in that the new ribbing along the top of this bar not only strengthens the main body of this bar, but also greatly strengthens the end corners which were formerly a weak point in the bar, by virtue of the ribbing extremities extending beyond and between the extremities of the gussets coming up from the ends of the bar. By many actual tests, it has so strengthened the bar as to enable it to be made from a lighter gauge metal than previous bars and to withstand the rigors of shipment better than the prior art bars made from a heavier gauge metal.

The advantages of the present invention, therefore, are in the provision of a lighter and more inexpensive hanger bar capable of carrying the same loads as the heavier bars of the prior art, and of withstanding the rigors of shipment as well as, or better than, the bars now on the market made from a relatively heavy gauge sheet metal.

The principal objects of the present invention, therefore, are (a) to provide a one-piece bar of greater strength but lighter weight, consequently reducing its cost, along with immediate delivery costs and subsequent shipping costs; and (b) to accommodate squarehook hangers as efficiently as round-hook hangers.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, although variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a hanger bar constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation of the hanger bar shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary bottom plan view of one end portion of the hanger bar shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is an end view of the hanger bar shown in FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 5 is a partial longitudinal sectional view taken substantially along line VV of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF INVENTION In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, a garment hanger bar of a type particularly useful for shipping garments in cartons or containers used by movers and other shippers of wardrobes is generally designated by reference numeral 10.

The garment hanger bar 10 is stamped from a single piece of sheet metal and includes a main channel 11 terminating into two end hangers 12 of identical construction and stamped from the sheet metal from which the main channel is stamped, to form a one-piece hanger bar. The hangers 12 are in the form of depending legs of substantially the width of the material from which the hanger bar is stamped, before the stamping operation thereof. The main channel 11 as stamped from a piece of sheet metal has an arched or curved top web 13, generally conforming to the curvature of the hooks of coat hangers and terminating into downwardly extending vertical legs 15, as shown in FIG. 4,.

The legs 15 and web 13 flare outwardly at their outer ends to substantially the width of the hangers 12', and the web 13 generally conforms to the outward flare of said legs to provide a relatively wide end portion 16 at each end of said main channel, each of which widened portion extends upwardly of said web at a slight angle. The underportions of said widened portions provide a wide bearing area for engagement with the top portion of opposite walls of a carton.

The arched web 13 of the main channel 11 is shown in FIG. 1 as having a central recess 17 stamped therein to add strength to said channel, and as having embossments 19 extending across opposite ends of said central recess to further strengthen said main channel, to add rigidity thereto in cooperation with said central recess 17, and to maintain equal distribution of weight by preventing the bulk of any load to slide together into one small area which would place undue stress on one small portion of the bar.

At the ends of the hanger bar 10, a series of deeply spaced gussets 20 are pressed inwardly of the ends thereof at the juncture between the widened portion 16 and the hanger portion 12 to reinforce the bar, in cooperation with recessed ribbing 23, and to withstand bending of said hanger portion.

A recessed portion 21 extends along the center and the ends of the arched web 13 and is stamped in said web and continues along the widened portion of the web into diverging recessed portions 23 extending between the center and outer gussets 20, to further reinforce said widened portion and particularly the ends of the hanger bar.

Opposite ends of the widened portion 16, at the juncture with the hanger 12, are likewise inwardly pressed or gussetted as indicated by reference numeral 25, to provide additional strengthening side ribs at opposite ends of the hanger, and which engage the top wall of the container in a pincers effect, to prevent the hanger bar from sliding or slipping off center toward one side of the container.

The gussetting of the widened portion of the hanger bar at the junctures of the hangers 12, along with the generally Y-sliaped recessed portion of the end of the hanger bar forming a Y-shaped rib extending along the underside of the widened portion of the hanger bar, form a reinforcement structure for the end of the hanger bar and hanger 12 providing rugged end portions of the hanger bar which will not readily bend or deform, while the recess 17 prevents bending of the hanger bar intermediate its ends and cooperates with the integrally formed embossrnents at the ends of the hanger bar to so reinforce the hanger bar that it may be made from relatively light gauge sheet metal and be as strong as, or stronger than, previous hanger bars made from heavy gauge metal.

I claim as my invention:

i. A one piece hanger bar for garments and the like,

comprising:

a main downwardly opening channel having an arched web and legs depending therefrom, said arched web diverging at its opposite ends to provide a relatively wide undersurface engageable with the top of the wall of a container and the like, and having integral hangers depending from said widened ends in the form of uniplanar widened legs perpendicular to the top surface of the arched web and adapted to extend along the outsides of opposite walls of the container,

spaced gussets pressed inwardly of the hangers at the juncture thereof with said relatively wide undersur face,

aligned spaced recessed portions extending longitudinally along the end portions of the center of said arched web and said widened portions and stopping short of the ends of said widened portions and defining depending ribs extending along the central portion of the hanger bar, and

converging recessed portions extending along said widened portions from said hangers and converging from said hangers to said aligned central recessed portions, to provide depending generally Y- shaped reinforcement ribs for opposite ends of said hanger bar and the widened portions thereof.

2. The hanger bar of claim 1, including deep gussets extending angularly downward between or adjacent to said longitudinally extending recessed portions running along opposite sides of said web, and pressed inwardly of said web and legs to extend diagonally toward the ends of said hangers to provide additional reinforcements therefor.

3. The hanger bar of claim 2, wherein the aligned central recessed portions extend along the central portions of the arched web intermediate the ends thereof to form aligned ribs depending from the underside of said arched web for substantiaily the length thereof and a recessed portion is disposed between said aligned central recessed portions to define a depending web to further reinforce said arched web and legs and prevent bending and flaring of said legs under load.

4. The hanger bar of claim 3, including embossments extending across said web and equaliy spaced on opposite sides of said inwardly pressed longitudinally extending recess, and cooperating with said central recess to provide reinforcements for said web and legs while functioning as restraining dividers to maintain equilibrium of a load. 

1. A one piece hanger bar for garments and the like, comprising: a main downwardly opening channel having an arched web and legs depending therefrom, said arched web diverging at its opposite ends to provide a relatively wide undersurface engageable with the top of the wall of a container and the like, and having integral hangers depending from said widened ends in the form of uniplanar widened legs perpendicular to the top surface of the arched web and adapted to extend along the outsides of opposite walls of the container, spaced gussets pressed inwardly of the hangers at the juncture thereof with said relatively wide undersurface, aligned spaced recessed portions extending longitudinally along the end portions of the center of said arched web and said widened portions and stopping short of the ends of said widened portions and defining depending ribs extending along the central portion of the hanger bar, and converging recessed portions extending along said widened portions from said hangers and converging from said hangers to said aligned central recessed portions, to provide depending generally Y-shaped reinforcement ribs for opposite ends of said hanger bar and the widened portions thereof.
 2. The hanger bar of claim 1, including deep gussets extending angularly downward between or adjacent to said longitudinally extending recessed portions running along opposite sides of said web, and pressed inwardly of said web and legs to extend diagonally toward the ends of said hangers to provide additional reinforcements therefor.
 3. The hanger bar of claim 2, wherein the aligned central recessed portions extend along the central portions of the arched web intermediate the ends thereof to form aligned ribs depending from the underside of said arched web for substantially the length thereof and a recessed portion is disposed between said aligned central recessed portions to define a depending web to further reinforce said arched web and legs and prevent bending and flaring of said legs under load.
 4. The hanger bar of claim 3, including embossments extending across said web and equally spaced on opposite sides of said inwardly pressed longitudinally extending recess, and cooperating with said central recess to provide reinforcements for said web and legs while functioning as restraining dividers to maintain equilibrium of a load. 